Residents will see a slight increase in their trash fees at some point this year, according to Councilman Bob Johnson, who announced the increase at the Feb. 19 Smyrna Town Council meeting.

"We have gotten an increase in our disposal fees from DSWA (Delaware Solid Waste Authority), which means that we're going to have to pass that on," Johnson said.

The topic was further discussed during the "Recognition of Visitors" portion of the meeting when resident Cindy Cogar asked why the town is going to increase the bill when the town's been saving money from residents recycling.

Town Manager Dave Hugg said the town is recycling 20 percent of the total tonnage and every ton of trash not sent to the land fill saves the town $82.

However, Hugg said DSWA will increase their tipping fee from $82 per ton to $85.50 per ton starting July 1, and will increase the fee again in 2014 and 2015.

Hugg said discussions regarding the increase will take place at the next Utility Committee meeting, but encourages residents to recycle more.

"There's no reason we shouldn't be able to recycle 25 to 30 percent or even more of that of our total trash," Hugg said. "But unfortunately what doesn't get recycled has to be paid for."

Cogar said it still doesn't seem like the savings is passed on to the residents.

Hugg said when the town renegotiated the pickup fee, it went down, which offset the increase in the DSWA tipping charge.

"So you actually have gotten the benefit of recycling and continue to get the benefit of recycling because the Waste Management hauler gets the recycling materials and uses that to offset their part of the fee," he said.